Tip On How Not To Send An Email Campaign

So, I got this in the email this morning from the Republican National Committee:

I wasn’t alone. I’ve seen on Facebook where numbers of Republican faithful are getting similar emails. I’ve given to candidates and the state party monetarily, and I guess my service as an officer doesn’t mean squat. I don’t take kindly to threats, and I know my Republican friends don’t either. This email doesn’t exactly make me reach for my wallet and doesn’t do much to endear me to them. Imagine what goes through the mind of swing Republican voters.

Take heed both candidates and Republican Party organizations: don’t send out this type of mass email to get donations. You probably won’t see much return, and you’ll tick off your supporters and alienate possible Republican voters.

I got that ridiculous email today as well. We haven’t donated to the RNC for years as we figured out long ago that it was much better to donate directly to the candidates of OUR choice, rather than let the RNC decide who ought to get our money. As Republicans, my husband and I have evolved into voters and volunteers who really try to learn all we can about candidates, do all we can to actually meet them, and see if we really are “birds of a feather.” After all, if elected these people will have their hands on our wallet!

It’s not just the Republican’s that send these. I’ve gotten them from DCCC, DNC and other entities. All I can guess is this must have worked one time, someone wrote a blog post that it did, and they all jumped on the bandwagon.

They start out passive aggressive and then move straight to aggressive. I get at least one call a day from an “Unknown” number, that I’m sure is a fundraising call. They never leave a message and I’m unlikely to ever answer an unknown caller.

I unsubscribe on a weekly basis, and yet not 10 days go by and they’ve pulled a new list and I’m getting them again.

This is just an email variation on a theme already used by the Tea Party Patriots’ telemarketers; “…telephone fundraising is proven effective to recruit new donors, renew lapsed donors and turn activists into contributors.” The motives are pretty transparent when the importance appears to be to “turn activists into contributors.”

I could have told them that I unsubscribed from all the Obama-related lists exactly because I was tired of being hit up for money several times a week, and seeing every talking point, true or false, exploited to its maximum fundraising potential (which is why no Democrats are acknowledging the truth of the Hobby Lobby judgment, to cite but one big example).

I give generously to GOP candidates every year and support the state and county parties so this email really made me angry as well. They could have phrased it a little better and asked the better question, “has the RNC abandoned you?”